He Rejected Me the Night I Birthed His Twins novel · Chapter 6 of 32

Chapter 6: The Envoy's Claim

My mother had told me to run, and I still did not know from what.

"Ember, who was she running from?" I asked, over and over.

"I only have pieces," said Ember. "Ask me when you're not afraid."

On the third day, Black Fir sent the Beta back with a formal claim.

He came to Ironwood's meeting barn at noon with the three elders and a leather folder.

Every Ironwood wolf who could fit inside stood along the walls.

I came in with my daughter in a sling and my son in the healer's arms, and I sat down on a bench in front of them all.

Torin took the chair at the end of the room, a few feet from me.

He did not look at me and did not need to.

I could feel him there, a few feet away, and it helped.

The Beta cleared his throat.

"Under the pack law of the Cascades," he said, "the children of a sitting Alpha are heirs to his territory, wherever they are found. Black Fir claims the heirs of Cedric Grimshaw and requests their immediate return."

"Where is Cedric?" I asked.

"The Alpha has pressing business."

"He's too busy to ask for his children himself."

The Beta's neck went red.

"He's not well."

A murmur ran around the barn.

"What do you mean, not well?" Torin said.

"He tires faster than he did. It's the stress of the weekend. It isn't a matter for this hearing."

"Tires how?" I asked.

The Beta said nothing.

I looked at the oldest of the three elders, the stooped man with white hair who had stood in the linen room with his hands folded.

He would not meet my eyes.

I stood up.

"Here is what I know," I said. "I carried them for eight months. I gave birth to them on a linen room floor, with a housekeeper holding my hand and nobody from your pack house in the room. Cedric didn't touch them. He didn't ask their names."

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